Mal’esh, the elven hunter who just jumped into the conversation, seemed like he was talking to the floating semi transparent camera near him as well as to some sort of cheering squad near him. Unlike Tier, Steven was not bothered by the elven hunter's sudden appearance.

He proceeded to tell Tier, “In short, my dude, I will work on it. For now, you can play again.”

“Play again? What are you guys talking about?” Mal’esh leaned towards Steven, his eyes were clearly prying on Steven’s screen. However, from how his eyes were moving, it seemed that he was unable to see anything. Tier wondered if Steven applied some things to stop people from peeking to his screen.

That would be very thoughtful for someone like him.

“Secret, huh?” Mal’esh chuckled with a clearly mocking tone. He then whispered a command, then performed a frame taking gesture using both of his thumbs and index finger. The person being targeted was Tier.

At first, Tier wondered what kind of thing was that. Perhaps an add-on, a third party tool that is often used by players to get certain information. For example, there was an addon for Lorekeeper that he could install to enable him to have a small window to check some data available from other Lorekeepers and Scholars. As for the one being used by Mal’esh, Tier couldn’t figure it out. Until the elf spoke even more mockingly.

“Wow, wow, wow, 36 hours since your last login, did you get banned?”

Mal’esh’s light yet swift steps made it very easy for him to approach Tier’s right side. Tier felt there was a significant lack of presence around the elf, which probably meant that he is someone who took the same talent with Tier in Predator’s Tactics. Stalking Stride, is the name of the talent which increases a hunter's movement speed and lowers their presence.

With full confidence, Mal’esh posed next to Tier and said to the camera, “Look, guys, a ban suspect. A criminal.”

Tier was in full awareness of how menacing his face is, but the accusation stil rose the heat on his ears. Especially when Mal’esh cheerleading squad laughed in cynically in some sort of a choir.

All this time, Tier was the victim of Lyra and whatever Steven did, and here he was branded the criminal.

As fast as he mocked Tier, Mal’esh’s attention quickly turned to the other side of the village centre where Arkengrad just arrived from a portal. “Ooooh! Now this is the real deal,” he said with a rather lavish tone as he strode to stop her steps, “One of Lyra’s gang, deserter of the Clashing Realms.”

“Buzz off!” Arkengrad growled annoyedly at Mal’esh.

Tier felt there is something really wrong with Mal’esh’s ego. The elven hunter just stood there in front of Arkengrad without budging. He even had the audacity to keep going with his mockery, “Aw, don’t be so rude, dear. You have a pretty face, such a shame…”

Arkengrad, looking furious, brandished her sword at Mal’esh’s throat and roared, “I don’t have any business with you! I said, buzz off!”

There was no fear in Mal’esh eyes, though he clearly made up the expression of fear as he said, “Wow wow, she’s threatening me, guys. These deserters really lack morality. They only dare to bare their fangs towards us, fellow Zurefgar players. Against players from another game… pfftt… of course not.”

His visage quickly turned to mocking one as he continued his words, “And this pretty lady here is the worst of them all. A tramp, you can call her. No guild, no friends to play with. Just uninstall already. You are nothing but a pretty face.”

“That’s none of your business,” Arkengrad hissed. Her sword was so close to Mal’esh’s throat that his company and the NPCs were preparing to strike at Arkengrad in mere moments.

It was at that moment Tier and Steven exchanged looks. They knew one of them needed to diffuse the situation. Because Mal’esh didn’t seem like he would back off.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

In fact, knowing he had the advantage, Mal’esh pushed on. He even tried to caress Arkengrad’s cheek as he flirted, still with a mocking tone, “It is my business, I don’t have the heart to let such a beauty be thrown away and wasted.”

Arkengrad quickly pushed off the elven hunter's hand and stepped back. “I don’t need any pity.”

Steven was clearly fuming at the harassment attempt. “Go, I’ll stop that troublemaker, I will inform you when [Primal Unleash] is ready,” he told him as he walked towards Mal’esh.

The head GM shouted a warning, “Any more attempts at such harassment, you all gonna get banned!”

Mal’esh quickly turned his attention to Steven. “My dude, we are not doing anything malicious, right guys?”

Mal’esh’s companions murmured in agreement. At that moment, Arkengrad slipped away unnoticed, except by one pair of eyes.

Arkengrad’s hasty, or rather rushed, manner had drawn his suspicions. Tier tried to stalk the paladin in hopes of getting some information. Also, he was curious as to why Manna was so keen on getting Arkengrad back to Clashing Realms. From what he had heard from Pitoy and Ega, Arkengrad seemed to not be as bad as the others. She was doing all these bugging lower player things rather half heartedly.

Arkengrad went out through the western entrance of Arikad. Tier didn’t quickly follow, he instead ran towards the walls of the village and keenly read his map. After getting out of the village, Arkengrad went westward for a moment before stopping for several minutes.

“Did she get lost?”

Tier mumbled to himself right before Arkengrad made a move. She suddenly detoured outside the walls of the village and rode past the fir forest towards southeast. From that decision, Tier could imagine that she was clearly trying to avoid meeting Mal’esh or anyone else. Which either meant she was trying to avoid getting attention or simply too lazy to deal with such people.

“You okay, man?” asked a human warrior player named Rondag. He had just stepped out of a weapon shop and seemed to wonder what Tier was doing.

Tier couldn’t blame the human warrior since he himself was standing quietly on the village corner while watching on his map. From another person’s perspective, a rakhs doing that in a human village definitely looked intimidating.

“No worries, bro,” Tier shook his head. “Was just checking on the quest and locations.”

“Cool.” Rondag modded. “Wanna party for questing? Your damage would be useful for me, I’m more of a bruiser here. And it seems you don’t have a pet yet, I can tank for you.”

Sometimes Tier wondered how a random stranger could always easily offer him to join a party despite him being a huge rakhs. He started to wonder if at a higher level, his menacing look actually had a good effect in drawing people. Maybe they thought he was some kind of a strong and brutal hunter.

Nevertheless, considering Arkengrad was around and so was probably Lyra, Tier had to reject the offer. “Would love to, but I have to meet a friend. And some griefers are on my tail lately, that would be dangerous for you.”

“You mean Lyra’s gang?” Rondag asked. “Yeah, I saw that lady Arkengrad over there just now. Man, can’t imagine how such a decorated player like them would stoop so low.”

Tier nodded. “Yeah, I wonder too. Well, see ya. You better find another place to level up.”

“See ya, let’s play together another time. I think I'll go back to Ishunda.”

As he summoned his rhino, Tier waved at Rondag and left Arikad to continue tailing Arkengrad. He was not lying when he said that he was also curious. He wondered, if he knew the reason, could he do something about it?

Tier didn’t follow Arkengrad right from the trails she passed, but rather a more parallel route so that he wouldn't be spotted. As a precaution, he set [Mimic: Crocodile] to avoid being tracked in the minimap in case the mysterious hunter of Lyra’s gang was around. However, since he was busy looking at this map most of the time, Tier almost crashed into a tree or another player several times.

The further he went, the fewer players he met. Some even gave him a signal to flee or pointing out that there were dangers nearby. Tier only gave them a nod and kept going.

Soon, he heard a faint noise of a fight before Arkengrad suddenly stopped. The location she stopped upon was at the same direction of the fight, as well as where Lyra, Slicer, and Xildur were seen in the minimap. There were two other players around them, which Tier didn't recognize.

He jumped down from his rhino and ran on foot towards the location. Soon after, the two unknown players disappear from his minimap. It could mean they used a stealth ability, anti-tracking ability, or simply died.

Since there was no further fighting heard. Tier assumed it was the latter.

Tier prowled closer while trying to guess the distance between himself and Arkengrad. He then chose one of the most lush fir trees to climb. Right before he climbed the tree, he heard the mocking greeting of Slicer.

“Well, well, well, the ever important Miss-I-don’t-want-to-do-this is late again.”